To Hear His Voice
by Lunalutra
Summary: Everyday things such as hearing your brother’s voice are so easily taken forgranted, but when a seemingly innocuous headache turns out to be not so innocuous, the Pevensie’s learn what they should be thankful for.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: Aaagghhh, my first fan fiction. Finally decided to start publishing this one first. I know it's not perfect, but if I don't start somewhere I'll never actually post anything. Just to make sure it's clear, this is back in Finchley, sometime after the events of Prince Caspian, but before The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Without further ado then, here it is..._

Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own these characters. They come from C.S. Lewis's brilliant mind and I've just borrowed them momentarily. I'm making no profit from doing so.

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**Chapter One**

It really was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining, there wasn't a single cloud in the clear blue sky and there was even a slight breeze to keep the temperature just right. It was the best kind of day for playing cricket outside in the garden, which is just what Peter wanted to do. The problem was, Edmund didn't.

"Come on. I can't play on my own," Peter whined, pulling Edmund's sleeve.

"You're not on your own. You've got Lucy to play with!"

As if on cue, a call of, "Come on you two!" carried in from the garden.

"Come on Ed. We need three otherwise there's no fielder. As Susan's out with her friends I can't ask anyone else. "

"Great, so now I'm just being asked because there's no-one else." Edmund rolled his eyes.

"You know I didn't mean that." Peter smiled at his brother, confident that Edmund did know he didn't mean it in that way. The brothers were long past misunderstandings of that nature, their bond forged long ago in times of great trouble and strengthened a million times over in all the years that had followed. "Pleeeaassse." Peter attempted the same puppy dog eyes and pout that Lucy was always so successful in using to get her own way, but all it did was cause Edmund to laugh.

"You should really leave that for Lucy you know."

"Well it was worth a try." Peter laughed too. "Oh come on Ed!"

"Fine." Edmund let himself be pulled out of the armchair where he had been sitting with his book. In truth, the headache he had woken up with meant that he had not been concentrating on it anyway, the words simply swimming before his eyes. He had hoped that the headache would have been gone after a good night's sleep, having throbbed dully since yesterday afternoon, but he had not had a good night's sleep, restlessly tossing and turning and the headache had not gone, only remained with a vengeance as though protesting at the thought that it might have gone so easily.

Edmund found himself dragged into the garden where Lucy had already set up wickets and was expectantly waving a cricket bat around. Peter scooped up the ball from where it lay on the grass, leaving Edmund to field.

Standing out behind Lucy, Edmund found he actually had relatively little to do, for which he was glad. Lucy had a good eye for the ball and Peter was not really bowling to get her out, so her bat connected with the ball more often than not, generally sending it back in the direction it had come from for Peter to collect back up. That left Edmund just scooping up the occasional missed ball which he lazily lobbed back to Peter, happy to let the other two take the more active parts of the game.

"Come on Ed!" Pay attention!" Peter chided. The ball hit Edmund's arm as Lucy swung and missed. Edmund merely grunted. It was true, he hadn't been paying attention. His headache had simply grown in intensity as the morning wore on. He dutifully bent down to pick up the ball, but the world swam as he did so, causing him to drop to his knees as he lost his balance.

Edmund was dimly aware of footsteps as he knelt on all fours waiting for the floor to stop moving. Strong hands placed on the front of his shoulders pushed him into a kneeling position and he found himself looking into Peter's concerned eyes. "Ed?"

"Just a headache Pete," Edmund murmured as he tried to right himself. He was barely off his knees before everything spun again, forcing him back to the ground.

"Just a headache? Here, let me help you." Peter's arms guided him back to his feet, steadying him so that he was able to stand.

"You look awfully pale Ed." A smaller arm wrapped round his waist from the side.

"Just need to sit." Edmund struggled against a sudden wave of nausea.

Peter and Lucy helped him over to the garden bench. Seeing the flush on Edmund's cheeks against his pale skin, Peter put a hand to Edmund's forehead. "You're burning up."

"It's a hot day," Edmund managed in reply, squinting in the bright light from the midday sun which was now directly overhead.

"Let's get you out of the sun then. Why didn't you say you were ill?"

Edmund's reply was lost as Peter helping him to stand caused another wave of dizziness. This time Peter had to virtually catch him and opted to pick him up to prevent him falling. It concerned Peter greatly that Edmund did not protest at this, allowing himself to be carried.

"Oh Peter, should I fetch a healer?" Lucy asked before clapping her hand over her mouth, realising her mistake. "A doctor I mean." She hurried along in front of Peter, opening the doors that stood in their way.

"No doctor," Edmund murmured.

Peter hesitated in answering. He wanted nothing more than to rush out and call a doctor, but maybe he was just over reacting.

Peter had by now carried Edmund all the way upstairs to their room, where he gently lowered Edmund onto the bed, shaking his arms out after the exertion of carrying his brother. Though Edmund was only of slight build, he had recently put on a growth spurt so that he almost matched his older brother in height and it took all of the strength from Peter's broad shoulders to carry him. "I don't know Ed. Maybe Lu should call the doctor."

"Please Peter. I just want to sleep, not be prodded about."

Peter couldn't help but feel that he was going against his better judgement as he made his decision. "Okay, but I'm coming back to check on you as soon as I've called Mum."

"Don't call Mum. She'll be back soon anyway. Just a headache."

Peter frowned, but left it. He didn't think that an argument was really going to help matters.

"Can I get you anything Ed?" Lucy sat down on the edge of the bed and bendin over, gently pushed a stray hair from Edmund's eyes, alarmed as she did so by the heat of her brother's forehead.

"Can you pull the curtain? The light." Edmund merely screwed his eyes more tightly shut as if to demonstrate the point.

Lucy scurried across to pull the curtains, though the light still shone through them, more so than was to Edmund's liking.

"Nothing else Ed?" Peter asked. He received no answer however as Edmund had already drifted off. "Come on Lu," he said more quietly, "let's leave him to sleep."

The two crept out of the room, though Peter doubted Edmund would have woken had a herd of elephants stampeded through the room. Both glanced anxiously at their now sleeping brother before Peter gently pulled the door shut.

"Are you sure we shouldn't call a doctor?" Lucy asked now they were back out on the landing.

"I don't know, but maybe Ed has a point. Mum will be home soon. She can decide." Peter hoped he sounded confident in his decision. Hopefully their mother wouldn't be too long. "Come on, let's get some lunch."


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read my first chapter and extra thanks to those who also took the trouble to review it. Here is Chapter Two!_

Disclaimer: I still don't own the characters and I'm still making no profit.

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**Chapter Two**

"Edmund." Peter peered round the door. "Are you awake?"

Receiving no answer Peter entered the room and lowered himself gently onto the edge of his brother's bed. "Hey, sleepy head. I've bought you a drink." He placed a gentle hand on his brother's forehead, alarmed to find that it was, if anything, even hotter than before.

"Edmund," Peter tried a little louder. This time he got a half grunt in response. "Ed, I've bought you a glass of water." He got no reaction again. "You should really try and drink it. Remember what we were always told in Narnia – drink plenty of water to flush the illness out!" Peter hoped that mentioning Narnia would illicit some kind of reaction. It didn't. "Ed, come on, please. You're scaring me." Peter tried shaking the younger boy's shoulder and was finally rewarded with Edmund's eyes blinking open, though they did so without any real sign of awareness. "Come on Ed, try and drink this will you," Peter coaxed.

Edmund just stared blankly at Peter, his eyes glazed. "Not hungry," dry lips muttered.

"It's not food, it's just water."

Suddenly Edmund seemed to wake up a bit more, but the response was not quite what Peter was hoping for as Edmund seemed to panic and started pushing himself up and away from Peter as though he had only now realised that there was someone there. His arm shot out and grabbed the nearest thing on his bedside table, a book he had been reading, which he brandished at Peter like a weapon. "Get back," he shouted, although the effect was somewhat lost as the words croaked out, his eyes still unfocused.

Peter narrowly avoided dropping the glass of water he was holding, instead just slopping water over his trousers. "Ed, it's Peter." He hurriedly put the glass down before trying to grasp his brother's arm. As Edmund waved the book again Peter tried once more, a note of panic in his own voice now. "It's Peter!"

The fight left Edmund's eyes as the recognition that it was his brother hit him and he allowed Peter to take the book from him and pull him into a hug. His body radiated heat though his hands on Peter's bare arms were icily cold. "It' okay, it's okay," Peter repeated as Edmund clung to him. He felt Edmund relax, the panic and sense of confusion dying down as he stroked his hair. Feeling his brother calm, he reached once more for the glass of water, stretching so as not to release his hold on his brother. "Come on Ed, you need to drink something." Peter kept one arm round the back of Edmund's shoulders, supporting him, while Edmund lent back enough to make space for the glass. Peter held it to his lips, tipping it slowly to release the fluid.

Satisfied that Edmund had at least drunk a little, Peter placed the glass back on the bedside table and then readjusted his hold on his brother so that he was pulled protectively against him. Edmund was simply too sleepy to do anything but snuggle back up, his eyelids already closing again.

Peter desperately wanted to rush out and call a doctor, but there was no way he wanted to leave Edmund on his own. "Lucy," he called out gently, trying not to startle Edmund and hoping that she would be close by. "Lucy."

Lucy, who as Peter had predicted had been lingering just outside the door, rushed in, her face full of concern. "Is he worse?" The question tumbled from her mouth. One look at her brothers gave her the answer and she rushed over to sit on the bed beside them.

"Could you sit with him for just a moment Lu? I don't think we should wait for Mum. I'll call the doctor now."

"Of course Peter." Lucy desperately wanted to help in any way that she could.

"Ed, I'm just going to leave you with Lu for a moment. I won't be long, I promise," Peter whispered gently to his brother, who gave no sign of having heard a word of it. Lucy shuffled closer and Peter gently transferred Edmund into her willing arms. Together they lowered his head so that it was resting on her lap.

"It's okay Ed, I'll look after you." Lucy stroked his hair which was now damp from fevered sweat, adjusting him slightly so that he looked more comfortable.

Reluctant though he was to leave the room, Peter knew Lucy would look after Edmund while he was gone so he dashed out as quietly as he could, while trying not to look like he was panicking, knowing that Lucy was worried enough as it was. He ran down the stair and rushing into the dining room, rummaged through the drawer in the side cupboard where he knew his mother kept her address book. He was none too careful in his haste, knocking over his mother's neat piles of recipe cards and stacks of information from their schools, but he finally found the address book right at the back and flicked through to the number for the doctor's surgery.

Having dialled the number, Peter found himself through to a particularly fierce receptionist who took Edmund's details incredible slowly. "And how can we help?" she demanded.

"I need a doctor to come and see my brother," Peter explained, telling the woman Edmund's symptoms.

"Hmmm. And you are?"

"Sorry?" Peter was confused.

"Who are you in relation to Edmund?"

Peter could have sworn he'd already told the woman that he was Edmund's brother. However, he gave her his full details again, with much more patience than he was feeling, his insides bubbling with worry at how long this seemed to be taking.

"I see," the woman said when he had finished. He heard noises down the phone that indicated that she had now opened his own record. He felt sure she must be peering over her glasses right about now and was almost certainly raising her eyebrows. "Well, I suggest that you wait for your mother to come home and ask her to call and make an appointment."

"But, he needs a doctor now!"

"I'm sorry but I am not sending a doctor out based on the judgement of a child. You have told me nothing that suggests your brother has anything more than a bad cold or a touch of flu. Wait for your mother or another suitable adult to return and ask her to call and make an appointment. Good day to you."

"I am not a child!" Peter shouted at the phone. He found himself listening to a dead line and incredulously stared at the phone. _A child indeed! I think I can tell when my brother's ill, thank you very much_. _If we were in Narnia now_, he thought, _she wouldn't dare to treat me that way_.

_But we're not in Narnia_, he though rather morosely.

Peter was quite inclined to ring the surgery again and give the receptionist a piece of his mind. He would not be treated in that manner! The receptionist was saved however by Peter hearing a key turning in the lock on the front door and his mother calling out for someone to come and help her with the bags of shopping.

Peter hurried to tell his mother that Edmund was ill, a mixture of panic and relief making his words flood out in jumbled confusion as he helped his mother carry the bags into the kitchen.

Raising four children had taught Mrs Pevensie that children caught any number of coughs and sniffles that generally disappeared as fast as they came. Mrs Pevensie also knew of her son's overprotective tendencies towards his younger siblings and so was uninclined to panic just yet. Many a time had she witnessed Peter attempting to make Edmund stay in bed when he really had only a mild cough or a slight temperature, particularly over the last year or so, Peter's over protectiveness towards his brother really having manifested itself since they had returned to Finchley after their stay at Professor Kirke's house. Mrs Pevensie had asked once if Edmund had fallen ill whilst there, thinking it might explain Peter's behaviour, but had received denials that anything extraordinary had happened.

"I'm sure it's just a summer cold dear," she said calmly, stroking Peter's head in a unknown imitation of Peter's soothing of Edmund, "but well done for looking after him. I'll come and see Edmund now and then I'll phone the doctor again if necessary."

The response really did nothing to calm Peter who proceeded to relate, more coherently this time, what had happened from Edmund nearly collapsing in the garden. The full story did concern Mrs Pevensie rather more, but she endeavoured not to show it, sensing that Peter didn't need any further confirmation of a need to worry.

She hastened her steps upstairs and entered the boys' room to find a very pale but very flushed Edmund asleep in Lucy's arms. She bent down to eye level, feeling his forehead. "Edmund darling, it's mummy." She was alarmed at both how hot he was and how little response she had received, Edmund doing no more that turning his head slightly and uttering a small moan. "Okay, I'll go and call the doctor again now. Peter, why don't you stay here with him?"

She really needn't have asked as Peter had already crossed the room and sat back down on the bed, clearly intent on not going anywhere. Mrs Pevensie left the room, calm whilst in her children's view but with more urgency once she was back out on the landing, rushing downstairs to call the doctor.

Back in the boys' room, Peter carefully took moved Edmund back out of Lucy's lap and into his arms. "It's okay Ed, it's okay."

Looking at her brothers, Lucy wondered who's benefit the words were for.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: No, I do not own the characters and no, I am not making any profit from borrowing them.

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**Chapter Three**

The doctor was a pleasant enough woman who went straight up to examine Edmund. Peter and Lucy were sent to wait downstairs whist the doctor did her job.

It seemed to take an age as Peter and Lucy sat at the kitchen table. They tried to amuse themselves by playing Eye Spy as a distraction, but after it took Peter five minutes to guess that the 'T' that Lucy could spy with her little eye was the table that they were sitting at, it became painfully obvious that he wasn't really paying attention and Lucy was no more enthusiastic than him about continuing the game. Just as they lapsed into an awkward silence, broken only by the sound of Peter absentmindedly taping a finger on the table, their mother entered the room with the doctor.

"Could you go and sit with Edmund for a moment while I talk to Dr Bater," Mrs Pevensie asked.

Peter was torn between wanting to stay in the kitchen to hear what the doctor said and wanting to go and check on Edmund. He knew his mother would let him know what the doctor said, but would she tell them _everything_ that was said? He lingered for a moment, then decided that his time would be better served checking on Edmund. Besides, if Edmund was very ill, then his mother didn't need him arguing over a simple request. Peter did however hover long enough to glance between Dr Bater and his mother, trying to read the expressions on their faces. They looked serious, but not panicked. He allowed himself to hope that it might just be a bad case of flu after all.

He lengthened his stride to catch up with Lucy who was already out of the door and half way up the stairs. They reached the bedroom door at the same time, entering quietly so as not to disturb Edmund. He stirred however as they entered, having been woken by Dr Bater and only fallen back into a restless, fevered sleep. He half opened his eyes, vaguely registering who had entered the room before grunting and closing his eyes tight shut again.

Peter sat himself down on his own bed opposite Edmund, flopping down and sighing. It had started out as such a promising day and been such a pleasant morning playing cricket in the garden, but now it had all gone wrong. The dim light in the room made it feel oppressive and did nothing for Peter's mood. The sun had moved across the sky now that it was mid afternoon and was no longer shining directly through the window, the room slowly falling into shadow, heightened by the drawn curtains, which cast a strange blue light over the room. Despite the windows being open, the curtains hung straight down, the cooling breeze from earlier having dropped, leaving behind an increasingly humid heat. Peter wondered if there would be a storm later.

Mrs Pevensie had put Edmund into bed properly, finding a sheet rather than a quilt to cover him with. He had got quite tangled up in it however and Lucy, glad to find something useful that she could do, moved to straighten it out as Peter sat down on the other bed. She carefully untangled it from around Edmund, causing him to stir slightly but not wake. She tried to pull it straight, but it was caught around Edmund's arm so she found that she had to lift it to be able to finish sorting the sheet. Edmund didn't complain, but neither did he help as she lifted his arm so that she could get to the sheet. She was struck by how heavy a person's arm actually was to lift when it was a dead weight.

With the sheet released she pulled it quickly straight with one hand before carefully lowering Edmund's arm back down. The position she had returned it to must have been uncomfortable for he stirred again, moving his arm so that it flopped over the side of the bed.

The movement revealed the underside of his arm. Lucy stared at it for a moment, before bending in to have a closer look. A rash was appearing on Edmund's pale skin, purple blotches showing clearly now against Edmund's pale skin.

"Peter," Lucy asked quietly, still bent with her nose virtually touching Edmund's arm to get a better look, "did Edmund have this rash before?" She looked up, her eyebrows drawing together in concern.

"A rash?"

"Yes a rash. Look, there's all these purple blotches." Lucy raised Edmund's arm so that Peter could see it.

Peter nearly walked into the bed in his rush to take a closer inspection. "Is it just on his arm Lu?"

"I don't know. I only saw it just now when he flopped his arm out. It wasn't there before was it? We would have seen it wouldn't we?" Lucy's eyes were wide as she sought reassurance from Peter.

"I would have thought so. Maybe it's just come up." Peter tried to remain calm as he reached for his brother's other arm, finding a similar rash appearing though it was not as clear yet as on his other arm and the blotches were much smaller, just dots really. He pulled the sheet back and yanked up Edmund's top, causing his brother to flinch at the sudden movement against his skin and revealing that the rash was also appearing across his body. "It's everywhere," he said, rather unnecessarily stating what was now obvious. He stared at his brother's stomach, mentally thrown by what he was looking at.

"Peter what is it? Is it bad?" Lucy's voice wavered. It alarmed her to see the purple blotches appearing all over her brother's body. Though it was already clear that Edmund was ill, somehow the more visual sign seemed to make everything seem worse. Not only that, but Lucy had seen nothing like it before: headaches and fevers she'd encountered many a time in the past, but not a rash quite like this.

"I don't know Lu." Peter was not going to tell Lucy just yet that a very loud alarm bell seemed to be going off in the back of his head. He couldn't quite locate the information right now, but he had a horrible feeling that he had once heard something about a purple rash and that it didn't signify anything good. It certainly seemed to end his hope that it was just flu.

Both Peter and Lucy heard the front door opening downstairs: their eyes met as both realised it must be Dr Bater leaving. "I'll go and ask the doctor to have a look," Peter called over his shoulder as he shot across the room.

Peter thundered down the stairs. Seeing Dr Bater already on the doorstep, being seen out by his mother, he called ahead of him. "Wait!"

Both Dr Bater and Mrs Pevensie turned to look at his as he leapt down the final couple of stairs. "Peter?" Mrs Pevensie asked, her voice questioning his sudden intrusion.

"It's Edmund," he gasped, out of breath from running down the stairs. "There's a rash. I think you should see it." He directed his last sentence to Dr Bater, who nodded her agreement before stepping back in the door.

"Where is the rash?" Dr Bater asked

"All over. Lucy noticed it on his arm, but when we checked we found it's started to show all over his body. It's sort of purple..." Peter finished rather limply, waiting for Dr Bater's reaction.

"Okay, show me."

As much as Peter was glad that Dr Bater was taking him seriously and coming to check on Edmund again, he was worried by the slight change in her manner. It was well covered by professionalism, but something in her rapid questions suggested to Peter that Dr Bater though that the rash was significant. Her body language seemed to suggest that she thought the new information suggested something other than her previous diagnosis and that her new diagnosis, when she made it, was likely to be more serious that the first. All in all it further unnerved Peter and the alarm in the back of his mind only sounded all the louder.

Dr Bater quickly drew level with Peter and he led the way back up the stairs, Mrs Pevensie bringing up the rear, having been left to shut the front door. They re-entered the boys' room where Lucy still sat, her eyes flicking between Edmund and the door as she waited for their arrival. She jumped up as they came in, moving out of the way so that Dr Bater could get to Edmund.

It didn't take long for Dr Bater to find the rash. It was now obvious, having come up more clearly even in the time it had taken Peter to retrieve her. "Could you pull the curtains back a bit so we have a little more light?" she asked Lucy who was hovering closest to the window. Lucy hurried to do as she had asked, the blue tinge to the room being replaced by natural light as the curtains were pulled back.

Dr Bater spied the glass that Peter had previously used to give Edmund a drink still sitting on the bedside table. She quickly emptied the remaining water into Edmund's pot plant in the corner of the room and then rolled the glass over the rash. Nothing happened. The rash remained, stubbornly staring up at them.

Lucy, Peter and Mrs Pevensie all stood waiting, eyes on Edmund and Dr Bater, waiting for something to be said. Dr Bater paused a moment, as though taking a moment to just collect her thoughts and reconfirm her mental diagnosis before she shared it. Moment taken, she looked up with a grave expression on her face.

"Mrs Pevensie, I'm afraid that your son may have meningitis. I cannot confirm that diagnosis at the moment without further clinical tests, but the symptomatic evidence does point to that diagnosis. I advise that you phone for an ambulance immediately as your son needs to be transferred to hospital as soon as possible so that we can begin treatment."

The words ambulance and hospital seemed to stand out amongst the others, leaving silence in their wake. Both Peter and Lucy looked to their mother who appeared rooted to the spot. Mrs Pevensie just stared at her youngest son for a moment then seemed to mentally shake herself. "Of course." She hurried out of the room to make the phone call.

Silence fell over the room again. Nobody left knew what to say. Dr Bater gave them a brief sympathetic smile then busied herself checking Edmund over again, leaving Peter and Lucy to themselves.

Peter felt a hand seek his. Lucy looked up, tears shimmering in her eyes. Peter wanted to offer her reassurance, but what could he say? He had no reassurances to give. Ambulance. Hospital. The words seemed to block out other thoughts. He did the only thing he could and wrapped her into a hug, as he stood there watching.

He really did feel truly helpless.


	4. Chapter 4

_Oh dear, this chapter was very slow coming! I started it okay and then a different story just started nagging away at me and demanded to be written. It wouldn't leave me alone so I gave in and started writing it. Finally though, I have got back to this. Not my favourite chapter so far but I hope it's not too bad. _

Disclaimer: I do not own Narnia or the Pevensies. I make no profit from this story. I guess I do own Dr Bater though so if your characters need some medical attention …

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**Chapter Four**

Peter watched the ambulance disappear down the road carrying his brother. He tightly clutched the coins in his hand that his mother had hurriedly given him to pay for a taxi to the hospital before she had jumped in the ambulance with Edmund, hanging on to them for dear life as the quickest way of getting to his brother. He had wanted to go in the ambulance too but there was only one spare seat and he knew he could hardly suggest to his mother that she wait and bring the girls while he went with Edmund. He felt desolate though as he stood on the doorstep as the vehicle slowly took his brother further away, until it rounded the corner and was out of sight.

The disappearance of the ambualnce snapped Peter and Lucy back into action. They rushed back inside to find front door keys and jackets. Though it was still warm they might need them later. Before they could make their own way to the hospital they had to go and find Susan, so with all the essentials collected, they rushed out the house, Lucy's little legs going twice the speed to keep up with Peter's long stride.

Susan's friend Molly Pearson lived only a few streets away so they covered the distance within ten minutes, though it felt like much longer. It felt good at least to be moving, not just waiting, though it did little to settle either's worry or nerves. Knocking on the Pearsons' cheerful red front door Peter stared blankly at the wood, despising it for its' promised jollity. It seemed to take forever for Mrs Pearson to come to the door and when she did she appeared with an apron round her waist, wiping flour from her face. She listened kindly as Peter quickly but politely explained the situation, not forgetting his manners in his haste.

"I'm sorry dear, but Molly and Susan aren't back yet." Seeing Peter and Lucy's dismayed faces she quickly added, "Why don't you come in and wait. I'm sure that the girls won't be long and I've just taken some cherry cakes out of the oven."

Peter was half inclined to just get in a taxi and rush off to the hospital without his sister, but he didn't want to be separated from any more of his siblings and he knew Susan would be just as worried as they were when she found out what had happened so seeing no better plan he kindly accepted Mrs Pearson's offer and he and Lucy soon found themselves seated at the Pearsons' kitchen table with warm cherry cakes and mugs of tea in their hands.

As they sipped at their tea and nibbled at their cakes, which despite their worry both Peter and Lucy registered as being come of the very best cherry cakes they had tasted, Mrs Pearson tried to make time-passing conversation. Lucy, ever the more happy of the two to be engaged in such a manner, carried the conversation for the both of them, happy to have a distraction. That left Peter to stare forlornly at the clock as the second hand ticked round.

Happily, the front door opened only ten minutes later, Susan and Molly falling through the door giggling, each with a bag containing a new purchase. Susan pulled up sharply as she saw Peter and Lucy unexpectedly sitting at the kitchen table. It was not pleasant for Peter to have to fill Susan in on why they were there and as soon as he had done so, as he had predicted, she was just as eager to leave as he and Lucy were. They thanked Mrs Pearson for her hospitality, promising when pressed to do so to let her know if there was anything she could do to help. She insisted on wrapping up the rest of the cherry cakes for them to take with them, pointing out that they might be at the hospital for some while. In truth Peter hadn't thought of the matter of food and was glad to accept the cakes, thinking his mother at least might like something to nibble on and it would keep Lucy going.

As the wrapped cakes were handed to them Peter was forcibly reminded of a certain beaver who had also insisted on taking food for an important journey and one glance over at Lucy's face told him she too was thinking the same thing. He couldn't see Susan's face to know if she was remembering too. He was struck by the irony that that journey had been all about getting to Edmund before it was too late as well.

They were just about to run out of the door to dash down to the High Street to find a cab when Mr Pearson came through the door. Luck was finally on their side as Mr Pearson had a car and offered to drive them to the hospital to save them the trouble of getting a taxi, an offer that they quickly accepted and they were soon all bundling into the car along with Molly who insisted on coming to offer support to Susan.

The journey to the hospital was an irritating affair. It seemed to be stop and start all the way as the car weaved it's way to the hospital. Mr Pearson had to take a couple of diversions due to roads still closed where buildings had been destroyed during the worst of the Blitz and there seemed to be an unusual number of cars out on the roads. By the time they reached the hospital, Peter was itching to get out of the car.

After a further promise to let the Pearsons know if they could do anything to help, the Pevensies thanked Mr Pearson for the lift and finally got out of the car. As Mr Pearson drove away, Molly turning round to wave out of the window to Susan as the car moved off, the Pevensies found themselves standing outside the hospital building. Suddenly Peter found his feet rooted to the spot. What if they went in only to find that they were too late? Was it better to know or stand outside in ignorance?

"Peter, come on." Lucy seemingly did not have the same concerns, or had least had decided it was better to know what was happening, for she was tugging on his hand. Peter looked to Susan, who nodded as though agreeing that she was ready. Peter returned the gesture, took a deep breath and allowed himself to be pulled inside, Susan following.

They found themselves at a reception desk where Peter gave the receptionist Edmund's name and details. There seemed to be no end to the delays, for they were asked to take a seat while the receptionist found out where Edmund had been taken to. Peter found himself sat waiting nervously once more, this time with both his sisters. He noticed Susan absentmindedly twisting her fingers together, while Lucy was virtually bouncing up and down in the chair as she kept sitting up straighter to try and see whether the receptionist at her desk was showing any signs of coming over. Finally the receptionist called them back to the desk, giving them directions to the ward that Edmund had been admitted to. Peter tried to take in the lefts and rights as she gave them, but felt them all getting muddled in his brain. They all thanked the woman for her help and set off again to find Edmund and their mother.

The Pevensies made their way through the maze of corridor. It was all very confusing with various nurses and doctors passing them and endless corridors that all seemed to look the same. Peter wasn't entirely sure that they hadn't missed the ward entirely. Thankfully, however much Peter and Edmund might tease about girls not being able to remember directions, Susan too had been listening to what the receptionist had said and as Peter reached a corridor junction and got confused, Susan stepped in and guided them onwards until finally they found themselves at a set of double doors marked 'Children's Ward'.

Now that he was close Peter was suddenly filled with impatience again. He had to see his brother. He had to know. _He'll be okay,_ he told himself. _He has to be_.He strode forward, nervousness causing him to push the door a little too forcefully so that it banged into the wall behind it. Susan took up Lucy's hand and followed in his wake, her own worry such that she did not even chastise him for banging the door as she usually would. Peter's eyes sought out a nurse to point him in the right direction, but he found he didn't need one for at that moment he saw his mother sitting on a seat down the corridor. The sight stopped him in his tracks for Mrs Pevensie had tears running down her cheeks.


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's Note: I think that as I get to this chapter it might be a good time to make clear that I'm not medically trained. I have tried my best to research the appropriate information, but I'm fully aware that that's just not the same as being a doctor so any inaccuracies I apologise for (if you are medically trained and spot something and want to let me know, I'm happy to amend accordingly). The other difficulty in writing this was that the information I was finding almost all relates to modern day treatments. I have tried to take into account that the setting is obviously some time ago so there won't be all sorts of hi-tech equipment or nurses popping up with fancy job titles and the Pevensies won't be sent off to relative support groups. Much as they might have been helpful, it just wasn't the culture at the time. For all that I'm not a doctor now though, I certainly wasn't a doctor in the 1940s so it might not be quite right on the treatment. Maybe we can assume that Edmund has been sent to quite a progressive hospital ...._

Disclaimer: I don't own the Pevensies or Narnia. I'm not making any money out of them. etc. etc. etc.

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**Chapter Five**

Lucy had never been to a hospital before. She found it made her feel small. The building was big, there seemed to be hundreds of people, all taller and older than her and the high corridor ceilings just increased her feeling of smallness. A picture of Edmund being carried away into the ambulance flashed into her mind and then all she could think of was how scared he must feel being wheeled through this alien building. At least she was with Peter and Susan and could leave if she wanted to. Edmund didn't have that luxury.

It certainly wasn't that Lucy had never seen illness and injuries before. She she'd seen that and worse after the battles they had fought in Narnia. She had never been one to stay at home and wait for the army to return much preferring to do her bit and help in any way she could. That had seemed so much different though. Healers' tents were infused with the smells of herbs and spices not the smell of chemical cleaner that came to her nose in the hospital corridors. She had been able to help in Narnia too. She had learnt how to make the basic poultices and infusions to help with the most common ailments and had learnt how to care for someone when they were sick. More than once she'd sat on one of her brother's bedsides cooling their foreheads when they had a fever. If all else failed she'd had her cordial. How she longed for that now. There was nothing she could do here. Edmund was in the care of doctors and nurses who with their medicines and machines had no use for her skills and even if they had been willing to listen to her she doubted they'd be of much use to Edmund now. It occurred to her that she'd never felt so much a child again as right at this moment.

She followed Peter and Susan through the corridors until they reached the Children's Ward. Her brother was in there. Somewhere behind those doors. As Peter rushed forward through the doors, she felt Susan silently take her hand as they followed behind him. Suddenly Peter stopped though and Lucy couldn't immediately see why because Peter was in the way. She had to move to the side to see what Peter had seen. Their mother. Crying.

Mrs Pevensie looked up and tried to wipe her face hurriedly as she saw her children standing there. Peter just seemed rooted to the spot. Lucy's eldest brother had always had an expressive face that betrayed his emotions, much unlike Edmund who firmly masked his emotions with only Peter, Susan and Lucy having any hope of reading them. Right now Peter's face showed outright fear and he seemed quite unable to make any action at all. Lucy however had no doubts over what she needed to do. She ran to her mother and flung her arms round her, Mrs Pevensie enveloping her into a hug.

Lucy was followed more sedately by Susan, who seemed to have gone very pale and exceptionally quiet. She too shared a hug with her mother.

That left Peter who was still standing in the same spot. "Peter dear.." Mrs Pevensie said gently.

"Edmund …" The question hung unasked.

"He's with the doctors."

Peter nodded to show that he had heard and blinked a couple of times as he collected himself, took a deep breath, then followed Lucy and Susan in giving their mother a hug.

"What did they say?" There was a waver in Peter's voice.

"Not a lot. They said someone would be out to talk to us once they can tell us something. We just have to wait for the moment." Mrs Pevensie smiled kindly at Peter, a hand still resting on his shoulder.

Peter just nodded again and after a moment took up the seat next to the one his mother had been sitting in. Mrs Pevensie gave an encouraging smile to her daughters, indicating that they should do the same and returned to her seat.

"Come on Lu." Susan gently took Lucy's hand and together they moved to sit too, Susan taking the seat next to Peter and Lucy following to sit beside her. As Lucy took her seat she glanced along the row and realized the order they had subconsciously arranged themselves into. Years of taking up the same positions had formed a habit that they even now they adhered to.

Only this time it wasn't quite right. Seeing her mother to Peter's right hand side jarred against her sense of familiarity. Edmund should be sitting there. She loved her mother, yes of course she did, but this wasn't how it was supposed to be. It should be the four of them, sitting together, two sons of Adam, two daughters of Eve. It brought what was happening home to Lucy in a way the whirlwind that had taken over since playing cricket in the garden that morning simply hadn't. Unceremoniously she flopped her self down in to the uncomfortable seat and buried her face against Susan's arm to hide the tears that were threatening to fall down her face.

She felt Susan move her arm from under her so that Lucy could lean into her properly and then Susan's arm reached round her shoulders, pulling her into a hug. She hugged back, putting her own arms round Susan's middle and holding on tight. Susan's other arm wrapped round Lucy, completing the embrace, Susan's chin coming to rest on the top of Lucy's head.

Lucy was struck by Susan's perfume that she could suddenly smell now that she was cuddled up close. It seemed to Lucy such a silly and insignificant thing to have noticed in the midst of their current trouble. Lucy realized that Susan no longer smelt of the mix of flowery scents that she was used to smelling on her, that she had smelt when they had held each other tight, each praying for their brothers' safe return from battle on the occasions Lucy had been forced to remain behind. Instead Lucy recognized the fancy new perfume Susan had been given for her birthday. It was pleasant enough. But it wasn't the same. Lucy had a longing growing in her suddenly for things to be the same, for familiarity, for a return to past days. Days when the four of them had sat together, each one quarter of a much greater whole.

The realization that that couldn't be sobered Lucy. It was no good wishing for that right now. The past was the past and right now, in the present, they needed to focus on one thing. Edmund. Suddenly Lucy felt much older and wiser. As much as she complained about being treated as a child by her older siblings she secretly enjoyed being doted upon and loved the freedom she had as the youngest to retain her childlike exuberance. Though Lucy knew she would always be a child at heart she realized that right now she needed to be a little more mature. Edmund needed all of her family's focus on him and that meant that Peter and Susan needed to be free to concentrate on him rather than looking after her. The thought drove her to release herself from her sister's grasp and sit up, composing herself.

Her composure didn't last too long. It was rattled by the appearance of a doctor. His white coat clearly marked him out as he came down the corridor. Lucy's feeling of being more than a child crumbled as he approached. He carried himself with an air of authority, his tall frame radiating control as he stiffly strode across the tiles. He made her feel small again. Lucy fleetingly wondered if this was how their subject had felt around Peter.

Clearly Lucy was not the only one who had seen the doctor coming, for Peter, Susan and her mother all rose beside her.

"Mrs Pevensie." The doctor paused as Mrs Pevensie nodded in acknowledgement. "Hello, my name is Dr Hisketh. I have been treating your son." Introduction made the doctor got down to business, but not before glancing at the rest of the gathering. "Are you happy for me to proceed with the rest of your children present?"

As Mrs Pevensie politely agreed with an "of course", Lucy saw a flash of annoyance cross Peter's face. It made clear that there was no way he was going to miss out on what was being said and Lucy had to agree with him.

"I'm sorry to say that Edmund is very ill Mrs Pevensie. We have done a lumbar puncture which has indicated that Dr Bader's diagnosis of meningitis was correct. We believe it to be bacterial meningitis though we will run further to tests to double check and to identify the precise bacterial cause. We are giving Edmund antibiotics to help fight the infection."

Dr Hisketh paused to let his words sink in though Lucy though it was going to take more than a few moments for them to fully register. When no comments were immediately forthcoming from those standing in front of him, Dr Hisketh continued. "Edmund is currently unconscious and I'm afraid he may remain that way for some time. We have him on a ventilator to help him to breathe. I'm happy to talk to you some more about Edmund's treatment and prognosis, but I thought that you might like to see him first?"

"Yes." Though the question was directed at Mrs Pevensie, it was Peter that answered, the word immediately jumping from his lips.

If Dr Hisketh was surprised he didn't show it, but he did wait until Mrs Pevensie too added her consent before leading them down the hall. Peter strode off with him, easily keeping pace with his stride. Mrs Pevensie glanced at her Lucy and Susan indicating that they should follow before hurrying down the corridor to catch up with Peter and Dr Hisketh, her shoes tapping along the tiles.

Lucy looked up to Susan who took a deep breath before giving what Lucy thought was meant to be an encouraging smile. Lucy however knew Susan well enough to see that she was just as frightened as she was. Nonetheless, both wanted to see their brother so hand in and they hurried down the corridor.

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_Author's Note: Just to let you know, I'm going on holiday for the next week so the next update might be a bit slow. I hope you'll wait it out though and I promise to get writing when I get back._


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